Indeed, we are currently in the midst of significant growth at The Buy to Let Business and are embarking on a recruitment drive to manage this. In doing so, I have experienced first-hand the very real problem affecting our industry: we have a severe shortage of talent.
Don’t get me wrong, the buy-to-let sector is home to some highly experienced and talented people. The problem is we need more of them and for whatever reason – be it the hangover from the credit crunch or the somewhat negative press coverage the industry gets – we are just not attracting enough people into our industry.
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This isn’t something that just affects buy-to-let, of course. The mortgage industry in general has long been struggling with a recruitment crisis. But with buy-to-let now more complex because of changes to tax relief and PRA rules, it’s more important than ever that we have the right people working in the industry.
It’s because of this that we decided to launch our own training academy. Being a mortgage broker – at least, being a successful one – requires a certain kind of passion. It doesn’t matter what your background is, you can be successful if you’ve got the right attitude. We see evidence of this all the time at our training academy where people arrive from different backgrounds and with different levels of education. Those who have the drive to succeed usually do.
The buy-to-let market is more challenging now and it’s essential that we can recruit the very best people. As a sector, we need to do more to attract these individuals, but we also need to do more to address the issue ourselves through training and apprenticeships – rather than waiting for ready-made, experienced brokers to come our way.
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